


Rebuilding

by bluereadingdolphin



Category: Kaleidotrope (Podcast)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Cottagecore, Alternate Universe - Historical, Angst, F/F, Fluff, but only for a second
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-30
Updated: 2020-09-30
Packaged: 2021-03-07 21:54:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,077
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26734678
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluereadingdolphin/pseuds/bluereadingdolphin
Summary: The building itself was quite small, and all on one level. The remains of a white picket fence struggled it's way around a garden not so much overgrown as completely taken over by weeds. Glass had long since evacuated the window frames, and a door clung onto the door frame by what looked like desperation and nothing else. Hal sighed to herself, turning to Sam to shake her head and move on to anywhere else, and found Sam's eyes looking back at her, sparkling in the muted light of the sun.Its a Hal/Sam cottagecore au!Happy birthday to both Em and Jules!!
Relationships: Hal (Kaleidotrope)/Sam the Quarterback (Kaleidotrope)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 4





	Rebuilding

It was dark when Hal woke up to Sam shaking her shoulders. She blinked for a moment, her brain slowly coming back into focus. She was in a small carriage, dark red wool covering dark wood.   
"...as we can go." Sam was saying something, and she blinked a couple more times.   
"Sorry?"  
"I said, this is as far as we can go. The coach doesn't go further, so we need to get off."  
"Oh. Yeah. Sure." Hal got up stiffly, unable to stretch at all in the cramped carriage. Sam was already outside, pulling the two small suitcases they'd managed to fill in their rush from the roof.   
"Where are we?" Hal asked as they sat down on a wall at the roadside, watching the carriage turn around and move into the distance.  
"The driver said we're pretty close to Stonybrook." Sam said. "It's small and far away enough that we should be able to stay here, at least for a while."  
"How far out from there are we?" Hal asked, somewhat dreading the answer.  
"It should be in the next valley." Sam answered, looking out over the hill ahead of them. "D'you think we could make it there tonight?"  
"I think we'd better. There might be an inn and I miss sleeping in a bed."

They had to stop several times on the climb up, and Hal very quickly understood why the coach didn't try to make it over here. By the time they were on the other side, however, the dim lights of the village below spurred them on enough that they got to the bottom fairly quickly.   
"Hey! You two!" Came a voice from one of the doorways, and Hal spun around with her fists curled in preparation to protect both of them. "It's alright! I don't want to hurt you! I just thought you two might need somewhere to stay is all! The inn is this building, I'm one of the owners. Call me Harrison!" Harrison fixed Hal with a bright smile, while Sam took her hand and walked inside with her in tow. 

Harrison never seemed to stop talking—while he was waving away their attempts to pay for a room because "they looked like they needed it"; when he was showing them up to a room; standing around in the kitchen while his partner made them food. This partner only introduced himself as Drew, and stayed silent for the rest of the time, content to let Harrison babble on. It was only when they were finished that he started talking.   
"So what brings you two to Stonybrook? I can't say you seem like the usual type to show up here." Hal and Sam exchanged a glance, and he shrugged. "You don't have to tell us if you don't want to."   
"We...felt stifled where we were before." Hal said. She wasn't lying, per se, that wasn't actually so far off the truth. Either way, Drew just nodded in acceptance.   
"Well, I hope you enjoy your stay here. Will it be a long one?" Again, Hal glanced at Sam, who tilted her head and didn't say anything.   
"Seems as good a place as any." She answered.  
"I suppose so then." Hal nodded once, decisively. Decisions. There were so many of them now that everything was different. Harrison was talking again, and Sam was answering, but she didn't pay attention and everything seemed to melt into a constant buzzing. She started to droop, eyes sliding shut as candlelight danced around her. The last thing she remembered before falling asleep was Sam's arms wrapped around her as she was carried up the stairs.

"It's going to take a bit of work to fix this place up, but with the amount of tradespeople in this town you should be able to manage!" Harrison finished his speech, waving an arm dramatically at the cottage that stood before them. A bit of work was perhaps an understatement—the walls looked like they were barely holding it together and there was a gaping hole in the roof.  
The building itself was quite small, and all on one level. The remains of a white picket fence struggled it's way around a garden not so much overgrown as completely taken over by weeds. Glass had long since evacuated the window frames, and a door clung onto the door frame by what looked like desperation and nothing else. Hal sighed to herself, turning to Sam to shake her head and move on to anywhere else, and found Sam's eyes looking back at her, sparkling in the muted light of the sun.   
"D'you mind if we go take a closer look?" Sam asked, and Hal tried desperately to signal her disapproval before she was pulled further into the wreckage. Sam appeared not to notice though, and Hal quickly found herself standing in the doorway.   
"Sam, this place is falling apart! Not even that, it's already fallen apart there's nothing we can do with this!" Hal whispered, conscious of Harrison standing behind them.  
"Just think of what we could do though!" Sam carefully pushed the door and it fell over, lifting a small storm of dust from the floor.   
"With which skills? I don't know if you realised, mais ma capacité à parler français isn't going to fix a roof!"   
"Harrison said there'd be people in the town who would help us." Sam answered, waving dust away from her face and stepping inside.   
"Why would they?" Hal responded, reluctantly following her inside. "We don't know them, they don't know us, why would they bother?"  
"Because people are better than you give them credit for." Sam sighed, turning back to face Hal. "Look, if you really don't want to do this, we can go back out and try to find somewhere else to stay. But just look around! Once we've fixed everything up this could be so good!" She said, spreading her arms to indicate everything around them. Hal allowed herself to imagine for a second, her eyes filling in cabinets and paint on the walls and maybe a nice carpet in over there…  
She took a deep breath, and looked back at Sam's hopeful expression.   
"Okay."  
"Okay?" Sam's face lit up in a grin, and she wrapped her arms around Hal. "This is going to be amazing."   
There, in the ruins of their future home, they shared their first kiss here - the first of many more to come. 

***

The window frame had broken, and that meant they needed to change it before they could add in windows. That meant longer of cutting draughts, sleeping in the inn and calling in favours at the town. Sam stared at it blankly, watching splinters fall off it as she prodded at the broken wood. A small laugh bubbled over her lips and her shoulders shook with either panic or mirth. Hal was out, at least, looking at paint colours for the walls of their bedroom. Sam sat down on the floor, rubbing her eyes as her breathing started to speed up. 

Hal found her there later, curled up on the floor and crying.  
"Sam? You okay?" Hal stood in the door frame, fidgeting with her hands. Sam raised her head, giving a watery smile.  
"I've been better."  
"Can I give you a hug?" Hal asked, walking in and kneeling on the floor next to her. Sam nodded in response, and they stayed there for a second, wrapped up in each other.  
"What if we made a mistake?" Sam's voice trembled. Hal stayed silent for a moment, and then spoke.  
"We didn't. It's going to be okay. We'll make it through, honestly. What happened?"  
"The window frame broke." Sam waved a hand at the broken window.  
"We were going to have to replace those anyway, it's okay." Hal moved to sit next to her, leaning against the wall and lacing their fingers together. "It's going to be okay."  
"But what if it isn't? What if we— What if we made a mistake?" Sam's voice trailed off into a whisper.   
"Sam—" Hal paused. "I'm happy here. Even though the window frame is broken and the door keeps coming off the hinges. I get to be with you and away from my family and I'm happy. Are you?" Hal's voice shook at the end, and Sam looked at her.   
"I am—I just—I was worried about you. But I think it'll be okay."  
"I'll call Lovejoy about getting that gram fixed."  
"Yeah. Love you!" Sam got up, and then froze. Hal did the same from her spot in the door frame.  
"I -" Sam went slightly red, and before she could say anything Hal was kissing her.   
"I love you too." She whispered into the space between them, and maybe everything would be okay.

***

There were voices coming from down the hall, as Sam blinked sleep from her eyes. The bed next to her was empty, meaning Hal was already awake. Hers must be one of the voices then.   
"Hal?" She pulled a morning coat on over her chemise, and wandered into the kitchen. Hal stood there, arms folded defensively. Across from her was someone Sam had never wanted to see again.  
"Oh, she's here too then?" Hal's brother glared at Sam as she came to stand next to Hal.   
"Hal, what's going on?"  
"My dear brother was just about to leave."  
"Her dear brother is trying to make her see sense! Mother misses you. She'll forgive you, it'll be fine."  
"I'm not leaving." Hal said, her hand finding Sam's.  
"Is this because of her?" Her brother jerked his chin at Sam. Hal bristled.  
"Oh fuck off. I'm not coming back, and you can't pin it on Sam either. I left because I hated it there and if I go back it's only going to be worse."  
"You can't seriously tell me you think you're ever going to be happy in this...place." Her brother made an expression of disgust while glancing around the room. Hal stood up straight for the first time since Sam had seen her in this conversation.  
"I'm already the happiest here than I've ever been. Now leave and don't even think about coming back." With a huff, her brother left, and Hal crumpled into Sam's arms. All she could do was move a hand slowly up and down her back, as the last vestiges of their life before stormed out of the house.

***

One day, it was finished. It almost crept up on them, after almost a year of cleaning out rubble and fitting new frames and weeding the garden. The last frame was hung, a rug was rolled out in the living room, the walls were painted in their respective colours and the last shutters were attached. The door still creaked a little, and Sam swore there was a draught in one of the windows. But it was finished. They stood back on the small hill, Drew and Harrison beside them.   
“It looks so good….” Harrison said, breaking the silence building around them.   
“Yeah.” Hal answered.   
“Thanks for everything you did for us.” Sam looked over at Harrison and Drew, smiling.   
“We’re happy to help. Let us know if there’s anything else we can do for you.” Drew grinned. “And if Hal bakes any more of that really good bread, we’d love it if you could pass some of that on to us.”   
“We’ll leave you two alone for a bit then. You can come back to the inn in the evening for a celebratory dinner!” Harrison and Drew took their leave to walk back to the village, and Sam and Hal walked into the house. They were quiet, drinking in the calm and comfort of their new home. Their new home. The place where they would live forever, or at least a long time.   
“I can’t believe we built this place.” Hal said, looking around. Sam was behind her, kneeling.   
“Hal?” Sam’s voice trembled a little. Hal only nodded, hands over her mouth. “So...I’m not great at these speeches and everything. But I think you’re the love of my life? And running away with you in the middle of the night might have been the best decision I ever made. I just wanted to ask you—”  
“Yes!” Hal said, before Sam finished. “Yes, I want to marry you.” Sam stood up, laughing a little. They embraced again, kissing in the hall of their home. Everything, just for a moment, felt perfect.


End file.
